Sailing Away
by CriminalSoul
Summary: Everyone is still on the boat, but what if Madison becomes sick? Everyone thinks she's about to die, but what if it was hiding something more complicated?
1. Chapter 1

Madison was feeling a bit dizzy this morning. She didn't know what was causing this. It certainly wasn't seasickness since she had been on this boat for weeks now and never had felt like that. She turned to her right on the bed and notice Travis sleeping. It was the first time she had seen him sleeping in days. Tiredness had definitely won over his body. She snuggled up to her boyfriend and tried to get some more rest, maybe that's what she needed. But this light feeling of nausea didn't seem to want to get away. So, silently, she got up and walked to the front deck and let the wind blew on her face. Feeling a little bit cold, she wrapped her vest around her and pulled it up to her neck level. She was so focused on her breath that she hadn't heard her son approaching. He was wrapped in his sleeping bag and the dark circle around his eyes could show that he had one more sleepless night.

"You okay, mom?"

Madison turned back, surprised. It was pretty early and never had she thought she would have been seen by someone at this time.

"Yeah, don't worry."

"You sure? You're pretty pale. You look sick."

"No, really Nick, I'm fine. I just… Maybe it's just because I'm tired."

"You should get some sleep then."

Nick hadn't been moving since his mother had turned back. He was standing at a few feet from her as she was leaning back on the edge of the boat.

"I tried," she quietly said, walking to her son.

She approached her son and with the tip of her finger, she put the hair away from his face, noticing the dark circles around her son's eyes.

" _You_ should get some sleep. It seems like you haven't slept in years."

Nick awkwardly laughed.

"You know I can't. Thinking of all the people we left behind, how could I have a peaceful night?"

"At least, try a few hours," she suggested walking away.

Nick turned back to see his mother getting back inside the cabins. Once he was sure she was inside and probably heading back to her cabin, he walked back to his sleeping place to try to get a few hours of sleep.

Madison was back to her cabin to try to get some sleep. She knew that in a few hours, if not minutes, they would be back on their routine: trying their best to survive. Nevertheless, she wasn't even back to her bed that she felt a huge wave of nausea which forced her to run to the toilet in their cabin.

Travis had been woken up by some strange noise coming from their bathroom. He turned to his left, expecting to see Madison, but she wasn't there anymore. He heard some whimpers followed by a heavy breathing. He knew it was his girlfriend.

He got out of the bed and, tousling his hair, he got in the bathroom.

"Madi?"

She turned back. She had hoped not to wake Travis up, but she had lamentably failed. She got up, not wanting to make Travis worry.

"Madi, you okay?"

She put her hair behind her ear and walked passed him.

"Yeah, Trav. Don't worry."

He knew he hadn't hallucinated.

"I heard you throw up. You sure you're okay? Is it something we ate?"

"No, Trav, I'm fine."

"Dehydration?"

"No, Trav!" she roughly answered, getting tired of his question.

"What is it then?" he kept asking, in search of a decent answer.

"I don't know!"

She furiously walked to her bed and sat on the edge, letting her head fall into her hands. Travis went to sit on her left and started rubbing her back. Madison knew what it meant to get sick right now and she didn't want anyone to know about it. She silently sighed and lifted her head to delicately lay it on her fiancé's shoulder. He knew what it meant too.

"It's gonna be okay. Just try to take it easy today. I'm sure it's nothing."

And he kissed her fiancée's forehead before getting up to put on a t-shirt.

"You should drink a bit of water," he recommended to her before getting out of the cabin.

Madison laid back on her bed and tried to get some rest.

Once Travis was on the deck, Nick walked to him. Obviously, he hadn't succeeded at sleeping.

"Is she okay?" he asked him, hoping for an answer.

"Who?" Travis asks, trying to hide what he knew.

"Mom," he sighed.

"Yeah, she seemed completely fine to me," he lied.

"Why're you lying?" Nick asked, raising his voice.

The fact that Nick raised his voice drew the attention of Alicia.

"Come here," Travis whistle between his lips, grabbing Nick by the arm and dragging him to a safe place no one could hear them.

Nick was pretty surprised by his mother's fiancé's reaction but didn't try to move away.

"Listen," Travis whispered, looking around him to be sure that no one was listening. "We don't know what's going on, okay? And we all know what it means to be sick on this boat, alright? So don't tell anyone about your mom's health for now."

"I completely understand, but what happened to her?"

"I don't know if it's caused by the food or by the water, but I heard her throwing up this morning."

"I knew she was sick!" Nick declared a little too loudly.

Travis quickly covered Nick's mouth with his hand and made him sign to lower his voice.

"No one has to know what's happening to her, okay? You keep your mouth shut about what I just told you."

Nick nodded and Travis removed his hand from his face. Travis rubbed his forehead as Nick walked away. Travis got to the back deck and found his son fishing with Daniel as Alicia was looking for an island or anything with her binoculars.

"Morning," he told everybody.

As expected, nobody answered. He walked up to the flying bridge to ask Victor what was the plan for today.

Meanwhile, Alicia put away her fishing cane and walked to her brother.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing. Why would there be anything wrong?" he replied, innocently.

"You're such a bad liar. C'mon. I saw you this morning with Travis. What were you talking about?"

"Nothing! I swear!"

"I'm gonna discover it, don't worry about that," she declared, walking away.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're telling me that there's a sick person on that goddamn boat?! We can't risk the lives of everybody on the boat!" Strand yelled at Daniel.

"I mean, it's probably nothing. She can't have been bitten, she stayed on the boat all the time."

"The water! The water could've been contaminated!"

"Of course, but wouldn't we all be sick? We all drank that water. She needs some rest, that's all. We are all tired and our body isn't made to survive to this. I mean, we have been through a lot of stuff. Give her some time," Daniel begged him.

"Time is all I have left," he sighed.

He turned to Daniel.

"And how did you learn she was sick?"

"I heard Alicia and Nick talking," he declared, looking down.

"There's an island right in front and I see a village! But there's no movement," they heard from the flying bridge.

Alicia had noticed an island on which they could go get some supplies. Maybe something to help Madison to heal. Travis ran to Alicia and took her binoculars to see what she was seeing.

"It's not safe," Victor declared, getting out and walking to the deck.

"We need supplies. We need food, we need clothes, we need water," Travis declared.

"We also need medical equipment which I'm sure we can find out there," Nick exclaimed.

"Plus, I've been watching the island for a long time to be sure there weren't any movements," Alicia confirmed.

"Victor. We'll go," a feminine voice declared from behind.

Everyone turned back to see Madison.

"No, Madi. You stay on the boat," Travis said, walking to her.

"Trav. I'm okay. I'm feeling less sick, I'm gonna come with you. Victor, stay on the boat with all the ones who are not coming. We're gonna be quick: we get on the island, we get what we need, and we get back on the boat. An hour max," Madison tried to make Victor change his mind.

"Alright, alright," he finally resigned.

"But Madi, you're not coming," Travis told her.

"You won't stop me from getting there," Madison replied, walking passed him.

A few minutes later, Madison, Chris, Alicia, Nick, and Travis were in the small survival boat, heading to the island. It only took 5 minutes for them to get there.

"Okay. Everyone takes something to defend themselves and we all come back in 40 minutes," Travis told everybody before walking with Madison to the closest house.

The village was small, so in 40 minutes, they had the time to get in every house. Madison headed upstairs as Travis stayed downstairs. The village was deserted and from what was left in the fridge, it had been a long time ago. In the pantry, he found some cans of soup and vegetable and some crackers and other stuffs that were still good to eat. Meanwhile, Madison found some clothes and some medicine. She hadn't check what was in the first aid kit and just took it. They got in a few houses and around 40 minutes later, everyone was ready to get back in the survival boat to head back to the boat.

"So, what did you find," Victor asked, not sure that it was their best idea.

Everyone put what they found and Victor quickly looked through everything.

"Okay, let's put that back in," Strand approved.

Everyone helped to bring the supplies into the cabin area. Getting some supplies in the cabins, Madison felt weird and dropped her stuff. Ofelia walked to her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Sorry, the bags slipped from my hands…" she declared, quickly finding an excuse.

She was pretty proud of it because Ofelia thought she was telling the truth. After rubbing her forehead, Madison took back the bags to bring them to the cabin reserved for the supplies. After having dropped the bags in the room, Madison walked right back to her cabin. She entered and let herself fall on the bed. In addition to her dizziness, she had now a terrible headache. Travis walked in with water.

"Here. You should drink a little bit," he softly declared, giving the water to his fiancée.

"Thank you," she replied, taking a sip.

"You're not feeling better, are you?"

"Do I look like someone who's feeling better to you?"

"No, not at all," he sighed.

"I don't wanna die, Travis… I don't…" she started to sob.

"You won't, Madi. Why would you?"

"I'm getting sick! And if the water or the food was contaminated? And if that's why I'm getting sick?!"

"Hey, Madi… Calm down. First of all, you're not dying. Second of all, if it was in the water or the food, we would all be sick, alright? Now, get some rest, you'll feel better after," he declared, kissing the top of her head.

"I hope so…" she sighed.

Travis put the blanket over her and kissed her before she closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.

"She's not feeling better, is she?"

"Goddammit!" Travis exclaimed, surprised.

He never thought someone was waiting for him behind the door. But Alicia was there, patiently waiting, leaned back on the wall, arms crossed.

"No, she's not," he finally managed to answer.

"Has she got bitten?"

"I've seen nothing, so I don't think she was."

Alicia seemed to be less anxious by the time he had finished his sentence.

"But… Is she gonna die?" she asked, in one breath.

"It's too early to tell. But I hope not. Anyway, we have a lot of medical supplies which can probably help her healing, if not, at least feeling better."

Suddenly, he was thinking about the worst scenarios. But soon enough, he was able to put them away.

"I told her to get some rest. She'll probably get better after," Travis confirmed, trying to make things sound better.

Alicia wasn't completely sure, but she had to trust him. She got back on the deck. Nick was also there, waiting for her. His feet were in the water.

"How is she?" he asked his sister without turning back to look at her.

"Travis told me it was getting worse," she sighed, sitting next to him.

"She's not gonna die, is she?" he asked, getting worried too.

"No, she's not gonna die. She won't abandon us. She's not like that."

"No one's like that. But the world has changed. The world shut down, humanity extinguished," Nick declared as his gaze got lost in the immensity of the ocean.


	3. Chapter 3

"We can't keep her on the boat if she's sick," Strand declared.

"What're you gonna do? Throw her overboard, maybe? Like if she was a piece of garbage?" Daniel asked.

Nick, who had heard the argument, decided to go see what was happening. As the men continued to talk, he leaned back on the wall, listening to everything that was said.

"We can't bring her to Mexico."

"Oh, because now we're going to Mexico? When did you decide that?" Daniel requested, a bit angry that nobody was warned.

"Since the beginning. And if you're wondering why I decided alone, it's because it's my ship and I'm going wherever I want to because I saved your lives."

"No, you didn't. Madison saved you. And now you wanna throw her away like she was less than nothing?!"

"She's sick," Victor said, hanging on his decision.

Knowing that Victor wanted to get rid of his mother like that because she was sick made Nick so furious that he forgot that he was supposed to be silently listening without getting caught. He got in the driving area where Daniel and Victor were both standing.

"Why do you wanna get rid of my mom? Because she's sick? Why? Because you're scared that she's gonna bite you when you'll be sleeping? You're still scared of monsters, Victor?!" Nick asked, provoking him.

"You listening to door now, kid?" he stated, completely ignoring what Nick had just asked him.

"She's not gonna bite you, okay? She may be sick, but she's not turning into anything. It might just be the water or the food! Anyway, we need her on the boat."

" _You_ need her," Victor corrected.

"Not just me. You need her because she's a part of the main we're all forming. We can't decide anything alone, we all need to judge the situation because we all see it from a different perspective. So you need her."

"On the _Abigail_ , I'm the captain. I'm doing whatever I want."

"You don't," Nick exclaimed before slapping him in the face and getting out followed by Daniel.

Victor rubbed his cheek to make disappear the future bruise he'd have.

Nick madly walked to his cabin before closing the door and locking it. There was no way Victor was throwing his mother overboard. He would have to kill him first. Someone knocked on his door.

"Nick?" a manly voice with a Spanish accent asked.

He knew it was Daniel, but he didn't want to unlock the door yet.

"You okay?"

He didn't want to answer. He sat on his bed and waited until Daniel walked away which was pretty soon. A few minutes later, someone else knocked on the door. This time, it was Alicia. Nick chose to let her in. he unlocked the door and laid back on his bed. His sister sat next to him.

"I've heard everything," she softly declared without any emotions. "But we have to trust him."

"How do you want me to trust him? We are once again a family and he wants to tear us apart!"

"I know it seems odd to trust someone who was a complete stranger a few weeks ago and who is now tearing us apart, but he is our only way to survive. If we had stayed on the land, we would probably be all dead. For now, this ship is our only way to survive and Victor owns this ship."

"So, you would let him kill our mom only because he's supposedly our only way out of this nightmare?"

"I wouldn't. And I'm sure he won't."

"All he knows is that she's is sick and he doesn't want anybody else to get sick."

"And what if she what mom has wasn't contagious at all?" Alicia asked.

"Strand doesn't know it and doesn't wanna hear it."

Meanwhile, Travis was looking for something to make Madison feel better. But he didn't seem to find anything. Suddenly, he felt someone patting on his shoulder. He turned back and noticed Chris handing him a bottle of pills.

"Here."

"Thank you," Travis replied, taking the bottle.

He walked to his cabin with the medicine. Before entering his cabin, he knocked on the door to warn Madison of his arrival. Once in, he looked in the bed to find it empty. He inspected the room and finally found his fiancée. She was in the bathroom, her head laid on the toilet. She was pretty pale and was trembling a bit. He walked to her, handing her the medicine before passing his hand through her hair.

"My head's gonna explode…" she complained.

"At least, it proves you have one," Travis declared, trying to be a little bit funny to change her mind.

"You're stupid, Trav!" she laughed.

But she quickly stopped due to her headache which was getting worse as she was laughing. Travis was about to rub his girlfriend's back when someone knocked on the door. Travis got up and opened it.

"We have a new destination," Daniel declared, seriously.

"What…? Where?" he asked, surprised.

"We're heading to Mexico."

"Since when have we decided that?"

"We haven't. Victor decided it."

Travis cursed to himself before thanking Daniel for the information and heading back to his cabin.

"What was it, Trav?"

"We're heading to Mexico," he replied, confused.

"What? Who said that?"

"Strand decided," he answered, rubbing his face.

Madison furiously stood up and headed outside the cabin.

"Madi! Where do you think you're going?" Travis demanded, following her through the corridor.

"I'm gonna go talk to him."


	4. Chapter 4

Madison furiously entered the driving area where Strand was. Victor was surprised to see her arriving and was scared to catch what she had. So, as she was getting closer to him, he was walking back.

"You… Ugh!" Madison declared.

She had to stop herself because she didn't want to get too impolite. At least, not yet.

"What?" Victor asked her, completely ignoring the reason why she was so mad.

"You knew from the beginning!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mexico."

"Why are you talking that?"

"For how long have you been planning that?"

"Madison, listen. I have a contact out there who is waiting for me. He has the money to get me there. And it's a safe place. But he only has the money for two people."

"Okay. What are you planning to do with us? Killing us? Letting us die on the sea? Letting us die on the land, maybe? Why not throwing us overboard?" Madison asked, angry.

Victor gasped.

"What? What is it?"

Victor thought about what he had said earlier and wondered if she knew what he'd said.

"Um… Nothing. We're heading to Mexico and I have a plan to make you all get there."

Madison knew this look.

"I know there's something. What is it?"

She examined him to know more about his thoughts.

"What? You were planning on killing someone?"

Strand tried no to change his facial expression but failed when he had a small spasm in his upper lip.

"Who were you planning to kill?"

Still no answer. Madison tried to think about everybody. Alicia hadn't done anything to upset him or anything. Plus, she was in charge of looking for lands and boats approaching. Nick had been on drugs but was sober before he got on the boat and hadn't taken drugs or medicine since they had left. And Strand was the one who helped Nick before they all got on the boat. If he wanted to kill him, it would already be done. Travis was an asset because of his abilities to repair almost everything. Chris was courageous and helpful. And he was learning pretty fast from his father and from Daniel. Daniel had some skills in cooking and fishing, plus he seemed to be Strand's confident. And Ofelia was quiet, but helpful since she had learned some medical skills from her mother. Who was left?

"You planned on killing me, didn't you?" Madison asked, understanding everything more clearly. "It's because I'm sick. You're scared. You're scared to catch what I have. You're scared to die, aren't you?"

Victor nervously laughed.

"If I was about to turn, I wouldn't be talking to you right now nor would I be lucidly thinking, which I'm doing right now."

Travis had followed her and was ready to intervene if something was to go wrong. But he knew his fiancée was able to control herself, but to a certain point only. Then, she would explode from madness and could get pretty aggressive even if she was the most patient human being he had met in his entire life.

"You just have to kill me right away then. But I know you don't have the guts to."

Victor moved his hand to his pocket to pick something. He was pretty enraged and picked out a knife. Travis was only listening and found it was weird that there was no sound at all. Seeing the knife, Madison remained calm. She didn't want to worry too much and she was ready to fight back if anything had to happen. Victor slowly walked to her holding the knife tight. Madison was immobile and only her heart rate and breathing went a little bit faster than usual. Travis was worried, so he got out of his hiding place to find Strand threatening his girlfriend. As Victor was standing at only a few feet from him, Madison strategically moved forward to make her assailant drop his knife. With a skillful movement, she picked his knife and threw it away. Angrily, Victor hit Madison in the face which made her fall on the floor holding her bleeding nose. Travis ran to him and made him fall on the floor and laid on him to immobilize him.

"What do you think you're doing, captain?" he asked Strand.

He didn't answer yet. Madison got up, rubbing her forehead. There was blood all over her shirt and some drops were slowly falling down the floor.

"Okay, mate… Ugh… Let's start over, alright?" Strand declared as he was scared that Travis would dislocate his arms.

"This was on your plans since the beginning to kill her?"

"I swear it wasn't! I thought she was sick! I thought she was also going to turn!"

"Well, she is not."

"But if what she has is contagious, I want her to stay the hell away from me."

" _You_ should stay the hell away from her," Travis sharply advised, letting him go.

Victor painfully rubbed his shoulder as Travis ran to Madison. With her hand she made him sign that she was alright. Travis took off his shirt to compress Madison's nose which was heavily bleeding. They bother went back to their cabin without going unnoticed. Madison went straight to the bathroom as Travis followed her.

"You okay, Madi?"

She wiped the blood off her face and remarked the damages caused to her face. With the tip of her finger, she gently palpated her face, more precisely her swollen lip and eye. Travis walked to her to help her.

"I'm fine," she declared to reassure her fiancé. "It's only a minor cut to my lip and a black eye."

"We can't let this happen!"

"Trav, listen to me. We have to trust him."

"Madi, are you aware of what you're saying? This guy wanted to kill you like minutes ago and if I hadn't intervened, he would've probably killed you, and you're asking me to trust him? Come on!"

"Travis. He wouldn't have killed me. I saw the fear in his eyes. He was into survival mode and was trying to protect himself from any dangers. Plus, do you have any plans? You want me to get on your back as you swim across the ocean to the nearest and safest place? Strand has a plan. He told me it was safe in Mexico. Humanity has shut down, where do you want to go? There's nowhere else to go which we are sure is safe. Nowhere."

Noticing that her nose wasn't bleeding anymore, Madison removed Travis' t-shirt from her face and handed it back to him.

"I'm sorry for your t-shirt covered in blood," she muttered before walking away.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days had passed by since the altercation between Madison and Victor. Strand had confirmed to everyone that in a few days, at most a week, they would arrive in Mexico. For Madison, it was finally a relief since she wasn't feeling better at all. Everyone was worried about Madison's condition, but Victor knew there was probably a doctor or someone knowing the least about medicine out there which could help Madison. Because of how she was feeling, Travis and she had spent several sleepless nights. However, they weren't the only ones. When Madison was throwing up or moaning from pain, it would wake up the majority of the people on the boat. Nevertheless, Madi could take those hours without sleep and take them back during the day. She was so weak that her mind had no problem shutting down when she wasn't feeling sick and could easily fall asleep. But it wasn't the case for everyone on the boat, so everyone was excited to get back on land and get a full night of sleep once and for all.

It was another morning during which Madi had only fallen asleep around 6am and Travis accompanied her for one or two hours.

Around 7:30am, Travis was woken up by some screams outside. Those screams also woke up Madison who seemed a bit disoriented.

She moaned from incomprehension. Travis turned to her, trying to understand what those screams were.

"Have you heard that, Trav?" Madison asked him, lowering her voice to be able to perfectly hear what was happening on the deck.

"I have. What are those? I mean, why would everyone be talking as loud as they are right now at 7:30?"

"We should go find out," Madi declared, getting out of the bed.

She suddenly felt dizzy and put her hand on her head.

"You okay, Madi?"

"Yeah, I'm alright…" she sighed, closing her eyes.

"I'm gonna go check that out, stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, getting out of the bed and walking outside without forgetting to close the door behind him.

Madison resigned, knowing that she would probably not be able to get upstairs without throwing up or fainting. She decided to lay back in her bed and try to relax and let this unpleasant lightheaded feeling which seemed to be stuck with her forever disappear.

When Travis arrived on the deck, what he saw he couldn't apprehend. Some people had got on the boat and we're now threatening everyone with their guns. Strand was the only one up with his hands on his head, probably because he told them he was the captain, and everyone else was on their knees or sat on the floor. Travis was still hidden behind the wall. He had to do something, but not before he was certain that his fiancée was in a secured place. So he silently got back down and entered his cabin. Entering, Madison wanted to ask him what was happening, but he made her sign not to talk.

"Follow me," he whispered, waving her to get to him.

He brought her to the engines room. Once they had arrived, Travis explained the situation to Madison.

"What are you gonna do? Going back out there and get yourself killed? Isn't it safer to stay with me?"

"There are children up there and I can't sit and do nothing knowing that."

"Why wouldn't I have the right to come with you? My kids are out there too!"

"Madi, you know you're too weak to defend yourself up there. Nick and Alicia are like my kids too. Chris is also outside and I'm in better condition than you to use self-defense, alright? Stay here and be quiet, I'll come back when everything will be okay."

She nodded and let her boyfriend go. She stayed quiet only to be able to discern what was happening upstairs and be sure that everybody was still alive.

Travis got upstairs and, on his way, he stopped where Daniel used to cook and picked a knife which he managed to hide. Then, he got to the front deck.

"What the hell's happening here?!" Travis exclaimed.

One of the unknown men turned and pointed his gun at him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he added, showing his hands to prove to the man that he was unarmed. "Who are you and what are you doing on our boat?"

"Shut the fuck up and get on your knees!" the man shouted.

Travis executed what the man told him, it wasn't the time to mess up if he wanted everyone to get out of here alive.

Another man turned, but this time to Victor.

"Vic, I've been looking for you for too many years. Too bad we're in an apocalyptic world right now…"

"I've told you I have no money!" Strand replied.

"But you have that boat. Look at ours, it's not the greatest, but yours…"

"You won't have anything, Gavin."

"Where are you heading to?" the man who threatened me asked.

"It's none of your business, Mark. None of you is going to know anything."

"Alright, then. Michele, who should we kill first?"

From downstairs, Madison couldn't hear everything, she couldn't even discern to whom the screams belonged to. She closed her eyes, constrained to wait for Travis. She was starting to relaxing when a gunshot was heard which alarmed her. She wasn't sure if it was a gunshot, but a second got heard which confirmed what she heard. She then heard some people screaming. Who had shot? That wasn't the most important question right now. Is everyone okay? Who was shot? Those were the questions she had to ask herself right now. She couldn't just stay there and wait, she had to do something.


End file.
